Research
My main interest is animal-plant interaction, especially seed dispersal and tree recruitment in tropical rainforests. I also studied the effect of climate variability on fruit productivity and seed dispersal in French Guiana, aiming at measuring how climate change may affect fruit availability for frugivores, thus, seed fate and tree recruitment in the long term. I have primarily focused my studies on the trees Carapa (Meliaceae, Mahogany family), which offer essential ecosystemic services for both nature and human beings in America and Africa, for wood and non-timber forest production (see Carapa akuri). My other favorite studied plant families are Arecaceae, Burseraceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Clusiaceae, Myristicaceae, and Sapotaceae. I am concerned about the sustainability and equitable use and fair trade market of non-timber forest products (e.g. Andiroba and Touloucouna oil). Among animals, my major studied animal 
group is rodents, but I also have expertise in frugivores bats, primates, and birds. I am combining taxonomy and ecology in order to better understand how trees dispersed and radiated in both Africa and America. I have analyzed seed and seedling ecology in various forest types and conditions of perturbances (fragmentation, logging, hunting, and road). Currently, I currently work in overseas French departments (Guyane, Martinique). (Photo: top left: Carapa grandiflora fruit and seed from Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda; below right: Dasyprocta punctata on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. All (c) Pierre-Michel Forget). (Profile photo : (c) Reserved).
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Ph.D. Supervisorship
- Interactions Heliconia-Vertébrés en Martinique-Guyane (Thèse Doctorat Thomas Nicole, ED 227, MNHN). Supported by a PhD grant from Ecole Doctorale 227 MNHN, and Région Martinique and UMR MECADEV for field studies.
- Niche Partitioning of carnivores-frugivores in Palawan, The Philippines (Thèse Doctorat Desamarie Fernandez, ED 227, MNHN). Supported by a PhD grant from Ambassade de France Bourse PhilFrance, and The Rufford Foundation, UMR MECADEV et ISYEB for field studies.
On-going research programs
- Suivi temporel de l’abondance et la diversité des vertébrés terrestres par pièges photographiques sur un gradient de pression de chasse, OHM Oyapock – OyaCam (LABEX DRIIHM)
- Impact des activités humaines sur les communautés faunistiques de la forêt guyanaise aux abords de Saint-Georges-de-l’Oyapock (LABEX DRIIHM)
- Développement d’une filière huile de Carapa en lien avec les populations amérindiennes de Guyane par l’association GADEPAM. (Projet soutenu par Office Français de la Biodiversité)
Recent publications
- Sivault, E., McConkey, K., Bretagnolle, F., Sengupta, A., Lambert, J., Heymann, E., Herrel, A. & P.-M. Forget (2023). Can body mass and skull morphology predict seed and fruit ingestion potential for mammal species? A test using extant species and its application to extinct species. Functional Ecology 37:1504-1515 (Open Access)
- Durand-Bessart, C., N. Cordeiro, C. Chapman, K. Abernethy, P.-M. Forget, C. Fontaine, and F. Bretagnolle. (2023) Trait-matching and sampling effort shape the structure of the frugivory network in Afrotropical forests. New Phytologist 237(4), 1446-1462. (Open Access)
- Kocher, A., J. Cornuault, J.-C. Gantier, S. Manzi, A. Chavy, R. Girod, I. Dusfour, P.-M. Forget, M. Ginouves, G. Prévot, J.-F. Guégan, A.-L. Bañuls, B. de Thoisy, and J. Murienne. (2023) Biodiversity and vector-borne diseases: Host dilution and vector amplification occur simultaneously for Amazonian leishmaniases. Molecular Ecology 32 (8) 1817-1831.
- Séguigne, M., Coutant, O., Bouton, B., Picart, L., Guilbert, É., and Forget, P.-M. (2022). Arboreal camera trap reveals the frequent occurrence of a frugivore-carnivore in neotropical nutmeg trees. Scientific Reports 12, 7513. (Open Access)
- Coutant O, Boissier O, Ducrettet M, Albert-Daviaud A, Bouiges A, Dracxler CM, Feer F, Mendoza I, Guilbert E and Forget P-M (2022) Roads Disrupt Frugivory and Seed Removal in Tropical Animal-Dispersed Plants in French Guiana. Frontier Ecology Evolution 10:805376. (Open Access)
- Guilbert, E., O. Affholder, O. Montreuil, O. Coutant, and P.-M. Forget. (2022) Human disturbance affects dung beetle assemblages in French Guiana forests. Diversity 14:1059. (Open Access)
- Albert-Daviaud, A., K. R. McConkey, N. Jha, C. Fontaine, S. Kitamura, A. Nathalang, C. Savini, T. Savini, and P.-M. Forget. (2022) Threatened species are disproportionately important interactors in a seed dispersal network in Southeast Asia. Integrative Conservation 1(1), 25-39. (Open Access)
- Moore, J. F., K. Soanes, D. Balbuena, C. Beirne, M. Bowler, F. Carrasco-Rueda, S. M. Cheyne, O. Coutant, P.-M. Forget, J. K. Haysom, P. R. Houlihan, E. R. Olson, S. Lindshield, J. Martin, M. Tobler, A. Whitworth and T. Gregory (2021) The potential and practice of arboreal camera trapping. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 12(10), 1768-1779.
Recent conferences, outreach, and vulgarisation
- Tropical Ecology OnLine Society for Tropical Ecology : Camera trapping of frugivores & carnivores (with Desamarie Antonette P. Fernandez)
- Festival PariScience : Ce que disent les crottes (with Olivier Montreuil).
Alerte presse :
(Illustration : Le kinkajou (Potos flavus), un mammifère Carnivore de la famille du raton laveur (Procyonidae), dans un arbre yayamadou-montagne (Virola michelii, Myristicaceae) en fruit (3 janvier 2020) dans la forêt guyanaise. © MNHN – P.-M. Forget, E. Guilbert - UMR MECADEV.)
Media :
- Planète Outremer avec Caroline MARIE :
- « Une forêt tropicale, c'est une somme d'interactions entre les animaux et les arbres ». 20th May, 2022
- « La forêt préserve le climat ». 12th May, 2022
- « Une corde jusqu'à la cime des arbres ». Emission du mercredi 11th May, 2022.
- Guyane1ère
- « Une nouvelle étude sur le kinkajou, et son importance pour la préservation de la forêt » 10 Mai, 2022. Par Vanessa Porphyre.
- « O'Zone : l'impact du réchauffement climatique sur notre forêt » (Journal Guyane Émission du mardi 08 novembre 2022, à partir de 17')
- « O'Zone : la reconquête des animaux étudiée par les scientifiques » (Journal Guyane Émission du mercredi 25 janvier 2023, à partir de 17'30 --> 22'30)
Exhibitions, knowledge sharing :
- Grimpe dans les arbres (May 2021)
- Web-Série : Sur les traces de la biodiversité guyanaise (June 2021)
- Rencontres au sommet de la forêt tropicale en Guyane (June 2021)
- L'Odyssée sensorielle, à la Grande Galerie de l'Evolution (October 2021 - July 2022)
About our studies in the rainforest canopy
- Forget, P.-M., and Guilbert, E. (2021). Rencontres au sommet de la forêt tropicale en Guyane. TheConversation [Online].
- Psaila, P (2019). Enquête au sommet de la canopée guyanaise. Photo reportage
- Picart L, Forget P-M, D’Haese CA, Daugeron C, Beni S, Bounzel R, Kergresse E, Legendre F, Murienne J, Guilbert E - 2014 - The CAFOTROP Method : An Improved Rope-climbing Method for Access and Movement in the Canopy to Study the Diversity. Ecotropica 20: 45–52.
More information
- Curriculum vitae - French (Long) - French (short)
- Hal Archives
- ORCID
- Publons & ResearcherID
- Personal blog : It's a small colored planet